More civilians killed by Israel (using American jet fighters), no problem for Chalu . . .
Israeli Jets Pound Gaza For Second Day
GAZA CITY: The Israeli air force pounded central Gaza City for a second
day on Monday, injuring 37 people in strikes on a security and jail
compound.
The strikes were retaliation for a Palestinian shooting attack in Beersheva
in southern Israel on Sunday, which killed two women soldiers and their
two assailants, and for the first-ever use by Palestinian militants of
home-made rockets against Israeli territory.
Most of the injured in Gaza were security force members, although many
civilians were also wounded by shrapnel, doctors said. F-16
fighter-bombers then dropped three heavy bombs on the Palestinians'
general intelligence offices, officials said.
All the buildings are inside the Sariyeh prison compound in the city
centre. The compound is close to one of the main market areas in the
sprawling Mediterranean City, and many of those hurt were civilians
walking along the main street.
Thick smoke billowed across the city centre from the strike zone and
buildings could be seen in flames. People ran panicking through streets
littered with debris from blown out shop windows and masonry.
Israel has promised not to bomb Palestinian prisons. The air raids came
after F-16s and Apaches hit targets in Gaza and the northern Strip late on
Sunday in swift payback for an unprecedented Palestinian gun attack in
Beersheva.
Sunday night's air strikes also damaged the UN offices in Gaza City and
injured two UN workers, drawing a strong rebuke to Israel from the United
Nations. On Monday, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
expressed dismay at Israel's massive bombing of Palestinian targets in
Gaza and the serious damage to UN offices there.
Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard said that the Sunday's bombing
"caused substantial damages to United Nations offices and injury to two
United Nations employees". Annan "deplores the deepening spiral of
violence between Israel and the Palestinians," Eckhard said in a
statement.
"He is dismayed at Israel's shelling of facilities belonging to the
Palestinian Authority in Gaza near civilian areas with bombs of heavy
tonnage." "We remind the Israelis that according the international law
they are responsible for the security of UN personnel," Eckhard added.
UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said that bombing would not solve
Israel's security problem and urged both sides to renew dialogue. "Bombs
do not produce security. After the attacks yesterday and today there will
be a new retaliation and the dance of death ... will continue," Roed-Larsen
told BBC television.
He said that the core of a political solution was tackling the issue of
Israel's 35-year occupation of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem
and the Gaza Strip. Ultra-nationalist Infrastructure Minister Avigdor
Lieberman said, "it is clear that the Oslo process has failed and that
Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority are our enemies."
Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said: "Escalation is gaining
momentum...Certainly because of the security problem alone we are
obliged to take a series of measures, which are sometimes hurtful to
innocent people." And former Likud prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu
denounced his rival Sharon for doing "too little" to crush Palestinian
violence.
"This situation cannot go on. We cannot wait until rockets hit Tel Aviv," he
said. Fears of an intensified Middle East conflict have hit Israel's shekel.
Traders said the currency's fall to new lows against the dollar was partly
due to the latest violence.
Arafat said in an interview with the BBC that any attempt by Israel to
replace him would fail, and senior Palestinian officials dismissed Israel's
accusations of rocket deployment in Gaza as a ploy to attack the
Palestinian Authority.
Palestinian minister Imad al-Fallouji condemned the latest air raids,
saying: "More bombings lead to more resistance". Hamas has made no
secret of its efforts to upgrade its arsenal for use against the Middle
East's mightiest army, which uses F-16 jets, helicopters, tanks and
laser-guided missiles. "All (Jewish) settlements and many cities will
come under Qassam fire. Settlers should leave before they face the first
strikes of Qassam 2 missiles," Hamas said on its web site. |
